KLM now offers flight help via Twitter and WeChat bots

It’s not difficult to imagine that, within a few years, many common business tasks and customer service requests that can be handled entirely online will be conducted by an intelligent bot.

Case in point: KLM has launched bots for Twitter and WeChat. And they are fluent in 10 languages.

The Dutch airline says this is the first integration of Twitter Direct Messages into a global airline’s online checkout process and the first airline bot for WeChat outside of China. KLM also offers a similar bot on Facebook Messenger, where it says it was the first airline to do so.

These unnamed virtual assistants can provide booking confirmation, check-in notification, boarding passes and flight status updates to any customers who book their flights or check in through KLM.com and elect to get their info through those channels.

KLM prides itself on being a pioneer of social media, and now in botland. It has more than 25 million fans and followers and receives more than 100,000 mentions weekly, including about 1,500 questions or comments. Most of the questions are answered by a dedicated human social team of 250 agents.

But the online workload is steadily passing to the botforce. KLM says that 10 percent of all online KLM flight bookings and 15 percent of its online boarding passes are sent through its Messenger bot.

In another example of the growing population of bot-as-staff, e-commerce platform Shopify this week made its Kit bot assistant available for free to help its merchants place ads, send emails, issue reports, manage inventory or perform other tasks.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.